PSR EDIT - MARCS System Programming

[W8HDU]

Do the MARCS transmitter sites each carry transmissions from all the Counties? For example, if I put in the two Allen County sites, (Lima and Bluffton), I would expect to hear Allen County agencies. But would Hancock, Auglaize, Shelby, etc also come through on those frequencies? Or do I need to specify a Shelby MARCS site when monitoring for Shelby County Sheriff or PD?

 

[mdulrich]

MARCS sites only carry talkgroup traffic that have radios affiliated with them. Naturally the Lima site is going to carry traffic from all the Allen County and state agencies in Allen County. The Bluffton site most likely would have some Hancock County traffic, but probably not Findlay PD/FD. If a Shelby County SO unit happened to be in Allen County that radio would affiliate with the Allen County site and you would hear SCSO traffic. That is the simple answer. There are restrictions of which talkgroups are allowed to affiliate depending on how far away they are from their home. area. This is to minimize overloading of sites. Over here in Van Wert County I hear ACSO traffic all the time because Delphos PD and ACSO units are affiliating on the Middle Point site. I also hear 02-West and sometimes 02-East traffic. I will also occasionally hear Lima PD and Lima FD off the Middle Point site. To hear Shelby County units you would need to have a Shelby County site programmed.

 

[W8HDU]

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't think an agency such as Wood SO or Shelby SO would be carried on a Lima MARCS site. A local scanner enthusiast was "confident" it was. But he's probably referring to a situation like you proposed of Delphos/ACSO on the Middle Point site.

In our remodeling at work, we're replacing all the old scanners, so I'm in the midst of reprogramming scanners and using new antennas.

 

[W8HDU]

Are there any agencies in our region still on high-VHF? (150 - 165 MHz)

 

[Swipesy]

If you go to the RadioReference Database for Allen County and read the headers for each frequency you will get your answer.

Allen County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Allen County, Ohio (OH)

www.radioreference.com

 

[mdulrich]

Are there any agencies in our region still on high-VHF? (150 - 165 MHz)

I know all the FDs is Van Wert County are still using VHF.

Mike

 

[W8HDU]

If you go to the RadioReference Database for Allen County and read the headers for each frequency you will get your answer.

There's a difference between what is listed/licensed, and what is active. I'm looking for active frequencies.

 

[Swipesy]

If you know that there is a difference between what RadioReference is reporting from users then you should send updates to the database. When only takers use RR it defeats the purpose.

 

[wbowery]

154.800 with CTCSS 85.4 rebroadcasts Lima PD's MARCS traffic. Also, Delphos PD uses their old 155.415 with a CTCSS of 85.4 as a talk around channel.

 

[W8HDU]

154.800 with CTCSS 85.4 rebroadcasts Lima PD's MARCS traffic. Also, Delphos PD uses their old 155.415 with a CTCSS of 85.4 as a talk around channel.

Thnx, Warren. Has anyone figured out how to receive;

• TGRP 7521 Auglaize Rural
• TGRP 54786 Auglaize Sheriff

From what I've gathered, these are encrypted unless there is a radio problem.

 

[amcferrin90]

Sometimes you can hear other agencies on other towers. The rule is the same, a radio affiliated on a TG on that particular site. A lot of dispatch centers can have neighbor TG's active on their consoles to be aware of what's going on around them. Or sometimes there may be official business taking place and a user is in range of another site. Sometimes like today I can hear traffic from TGs well outside my area. I'm in Columbus and there was TGs from Cleveland OSP post active locally. Could be a high enough user allowed to roam this far away or OSP had that TG pulled up on their console.

 

[W8HDU]

For good or bad, the way I programmed the scanner was to snag the Allen County (1) towers, and agencies from the RR database, and put them into scan bank 1, with the LED colored "red" for FD/EMTS, and "blue" for LE.

Then I repeated the same for Auglaize (2), Hancock (3), Hardin (4), Mercer (10), Shelby (5), Paulding (6), Putnam (7), Van Wert (8), and Wood County (9). Each county into a separate bank, and each county had towers in their jurisdiction.

Finally, I downloaded OSP for Lima, Findlay, Wapakoneta, and Van Wert, along with their towers, and added them as bank (11).

Allen and adjacent channels seem to be work pretty well on an inside antenna. When I put the scanner on a Diamond X50A antenna at 10' I get more counties, but spotty due to propagation.

I'm waiting for the tower crew to get here to put the Diamond D130NJ Super Discone antenna up at 52' to see what it will do. Transmission line to the radio is LDF4-50 low loss flex.

Attached is my reference file.

((EDIT: Hits are from a 48 hour period))